It’s Thank you Thursday. Today’s shout out of Mission love goes to Good Shepherd Food Bank.
Good Shepherd helps the Mission provide healthy, nutritious food to thousands of people in Washington County. They help us feed people who can’t quite make ends meet. People who make difficult decisions each week or month about what bill to pay: rent, electricity, heat, gas, car repairs, a trip to the doctor, medicine or food.
The caring, capable, and knowledgeable staff at Good Shepherd have provided the support the Mission needs to stock our food pantry, and expand our reach to schools, families, and the elderly.
“Often, when I speak with a Good Shepherd staff member,” said Mission Service Program Director Wendy Harrington, “they thank me for everything my organization and staff do to help feed people in our community.”
The Mission would like to say “thank you” back. Thank you for taking such good care of us and the people we serve.
CHERRYFIELD, ME — EdGE Site Coordinator Jen Kearns brings us these photos of four creative students learning the art of pop-up cards with EdGE instructor Olivia Dyer.
Learn more about all the EdGE in-school and after-school programs.
It’s Thank you Thursday. Today’s shout out of Mission love goes to The Community Caring Collaborative (CCC) of East Machias, ME.
The CCC, founded in 2007, focuses in a growing number of areas, “to address the issues of at-risk infants, young children, and their families” in Washington County. The CCC is doing that work by finding ways to help nonprofits, government agencies, and other entities do their own work inside Washington County to address “the challenges of poverty, trauma, substance abuse, major health issues, the process of aging, or other factors can make people vulnerable.”
Mission Director of Services Programs Wendy Harrington said, “By building the CCC we have been better able to see the ways we can work together and strengthen what’s going on for the people in our county.” Wendy praises CCC as mentors, a partner organization, and for their generosity. “They’ve just been a good friend,” she summarizes. “Washington County is stronger because of the work CCC has done.”
CHERRYFIELD, ME — EdGE 4th and 5th graders learn basic drawing skills, via Zoom, from artist Kat Logan with Schoodic Arts For All in Winter Harbor, ME. Kat is teaching a You Can Draw! February Virtual Workshop this month.
In this photo, from EdGE Site Coordinator Jen Kearns, Kat is explaining how to shade correctly, based on how light falls on objects.
This is a pre-Covid photo of Mission Journey students exploring the great Maine outdoors.
Mission Job Opening — Journey Program Manager
Position Summary
The Journey Program Manager (JPM) supports the Maine Seacoast Mission’s 7th-12th grade youth mentoring program, Journey, and nurtures its growth. Journey is one of six Maine sites funded through the Lerner Foundation to raise and sustain the post-secondary aspirations of students in rural Maine. The program upholds the Trekkers 10 Youth Programming Principles and the Maine Seacoast Mission goals of raising aspirations, improving academic performance, promoting responsibility for individual health and wellness, and contributing to the development of strong and nurturing family relationships.
Working within a collaborative team model, the JPM provides guidance, direction, and delivery for the entire Journey program, managing program logistics, administration, and community relations. The JPM offers leadership in college and career preparation and supervises the Journey Program Coordinator. In addition to Journey responsibilities, the JPM serves on the Downeast Campus and Student Pathways teams to support the Maine Seacoast Mission’s overall commitment to middle school, high school, and college students.
I learned recently our friend Terry died. It wasn’t a surprise. He’s been shuffling around with an oxygen bottle for a while, struggling to catch his breath. It’s been a handful of tough winters for he and his wife Dottie.
As Terry’s health diminished, friends and community helped with his firewood. I remember a conversation, years back, at one of our Downeast Table of Plenty (DETOP) suppers. We all were seated, eating at the big round table. Terry said he needed help carrying firewood into the house. Adam and Mark went over that weekend to move firewood. They did so for two winters.
Others took turns. Zach, Maeve and her son, Jaden, carried wood for a while. Neighbors looking out for neighbors. In summer, the Mission’s Housing Rehab workers moved and stacked big piles of firewood into Terry and Dottie’s wood shed.
Dottie and Terry have been together fifty years. Strong folk, back to the landers. They’ve lived many, many years off the grid, good and simple. Before coming to Maine they lived in a retrofitted bus in New Mexico. They first got electricity only three or four years ago when Terry needed it to power his oxygen supply. Scott Shaw, working through our Housing Rehabilitation program, had power strung down their long driveway, into their home.
Last fall, the Mission’s Megan Smith and Scott Shaw worked with Downeast Community Partners, to have two propane heaters installed in Dottie’s and Terry’s house. When Dottie called the Mission to tell us of Terry’s passing, she said Terry was proud of his new propane heaters. It’s reassuring knowing Dottie, without relying solely on wood, will be warm this winter.
Heart mending needs warmth.
I didn’t really know Terry before we were regulars at our DETOP community suppers. I knew he was old friends with Mooney. Like me, raking blueberries initially brought Terry and Dottie to Maine. I also heard Terry wasn’t afraid to have fun at Joan’s parties way back in the day.
The Terry I got to know over the last ten years was a gentleman. He held doors, asked about your loved ones, and about how so-and-so was doing. He was always charming and, with depth and attention, happy to engage in conversations. Terry had a soothing laugh. He told good stories and asked to hear yours. The mention of his wife Dottie always made him smile big.
Sometimes at our community suppers Maeve and I would box up something for Terry to bring to Dottie who prefers to stay home. She is feisty, tiny thing, with a smart strong spirit. Maeve and I wondered, making up a care package, what Dottie would like to eat. Cake or kale?
Early in the pandemic, when I stopped by to drop off a Family Food Center box, Dottie’s cute dog came running out to greet me. Bark, bark! This little dog is a bit chubby. Ha! I suspected then and there that maybe the dog shared some of Dottie’s Table of Plenty goodies.
Terry loved Table of Plenty, and Terry was loved at Table of Plenty. Pastor Priscilla had an instant soft spot for him. Young men loved having long conversations at the supper table about life with him. And Bonnie? Well, you can see their friendship in the picture here. Bonnie said Terry mistook her for a nun in the early days of our community supper.
Talking recently with Joan I asked her for few Terry stories from back when they all were young homesteaders. She said Terry bought their modest place with money inherited from his mother. Before putting down roots in Maine though, he and Dottie used a portion of the inheritance to travel in Europe.
Joan said she first met Terry some thirty-odd years ago when he delivered a truck bed full of wood scraps to a Rainbow family gathering she was hosting at her “Happy Hollow” farm. Terry knew the bunch of hippies camping in Joan’s yard would enjoy that firewood at the nightly campfire.
And with that — a story, a cycle of warmth, love and life — I will end my little homemade eulogy for our friend.
